Although Jiang He felt that the corpses were completely useless before, he had realized their importance now. If he killed another one dozen elites who grasped sword will and planted more Sword Will Barrenwort, would his own grasp over sword will not be perfected?
[Ding!]
[+2000 Farm Points]
He walked up and plucked the Sword Will Barrenwort, before turning to look at the graves nearby.
A three-feet tall tree was growing beside the grave.
It was a strange plant: its branches and trunk were green but it had no leaves, with two cherry-sized fruits hanging atop its bald branches.
The fruit was, in fact, green too.
“Tut, tut!”
Jiang He couldn’t help laughing as he exclaimed, “What gods have the Sky Demon Cultists angered that all the plants growing their graves are green[1]?”
Even as he bantered, he pondered.
The graves had been buried for some time. Why did the grave grass suddenly grow out?
“Could it be because of the farm leveling up?” Jiang He felt that it was the only possibility—he had definitely felt a mysterious energy wafting in his farm in the instant that it leveled up. The willow tree he had planted shot up by two meters in no time at all, and it made sense that energy nurturing some of the grave grass.
Nonetheless, Jiang He became even more puzzled at that.
Why did it not catalyze into several living people?
He had planted Dumbo and Tumbo before, and both of them were Ferals—beings of flesh and blood. If they could be planted, why not human corpses?
Was his farm level too low?
Could there be some other conditions?
“A paper doll could be planted into a maid, so why not corpses?”
“Could I plant corpses when the farm levels up, reviving it?”
“Planting corpses now only gives me grave grasses, then… what is the rule? Surely I can’t wait until the farm levels up after I plant the corpses?”
Jiang He mused to himself for a long time when he heard a car’s honk from outside. Only then did he rub his temples and head out.
The Martial Arts Department (MAD) vehicle carrying the corpses had returned.
“Mister Jiang, where would you want the corpses?” Su Ze asked as he leapt off the vehicle.
The youth was now utterly respectful towards Jiang He, and was all smiles as he said, “Point me there, and I’ll help carry it over.”
“No need, just put them outside.”
“Very well!”
Su Ze hence unloaded the corpses.
Meanwhile, Jiang He saw that Liu Xue was remaining in the vehicle, and grinned, “Liu Xue, come over for a bit.”
“Huh?”
Despite being puzzled, Liu Xue jumped off the vehicle as well.
With a turn of his hand, Jiang He drew out a gigantic eel and handed it to her, saying, “Didn’t you keep asking for an eel? I managed to pick one up when I was at Jiangnan, though it’s a shame that it’s dead.”
Liu Xue: “…”
A look of shock flash upon her loli face.
Eel…
‘When did I ask for an eel? You were the one who said on your own that you would catch me an eel for me to play with, please!
‘All I wanted is a baby Feral…
‘That being said, this eel must be rank-four, or perhaps a rank-five?
‘Even a single corpse would be worth a lot of money, would it not?’
Receiving the corpse, Liu Xue smiled sweetly at Jiang He and said, “Thank you, Mister Jiang.”
With that, she leapt back on the vehicle.
Soon, the corpses were put on the ground. Jiang He then called out to the Seven Bottle Gourd Brothers who were watching Peppa Pig so intently that they were not affected at all by the explosions and the battle outside, saying, “Carry those corpses inside the farm… by the way, where’s Dumbo and Trumbo? Tell them to come help as well.”
The corpses were hence moved inside the farm.
As Jiang He tired himself out from instructing, Dumbo, Trumbo and the Seven Bottle Gourd Brothers also planted all the corpses and piled graves above them.
Rewarding each of the Seven Bottle Gourd Brothers with a Nitrogen Fertilizer, Jiang He barked, “Alright, it’s already ten. Staying up late is bad for your health, now get back inside the bottle gourds and sleep.”
With that, the Seven Bottle Gourd Brothers happily climbed back inside their bottle gourds with their ‘candies’.
Then, glancing at Dumbo and Trumbo who were wagging their tails to curry favor, Jiang He thought about it before walking up and plucking the small tree growing beside the grave.
[Ding!]
[+500 Farm Points]
Compared to the Sword Will Barrenwort, the grave grass earned Jiang He a lot less points.
Clearly, its value would be much lower than the Sword Will Barrenwort.
All at once, Jiang He lost interest.
Would I ever care for such rubbish?
Though fruits must be eaten… said fruit grew out of a grave, absorbing the essences of the corpse within. How could that not be disgusting?
Plucking two fruits, he rewarded Dumbo and Trumbo with one each.
Delighted, cat and dog stuffed the fruit down their mouths once they received it.
Crunch, crunch.
After several munching, they swallowed.
Oom!
In second, a curious surge of energy arose from Dumbo and Trumbo’s bodies, just as a golden light flashed over their body, eventually converging on their paws.
“Ha!”
Dumbo, standing on his rear legs, assumed a horse stance and breathed a soft cry, clenching one of its paws by its hip while abruptly extending the other.
Boom!
The air rumbled.
A giant golden palm shot out, fading only when it was eight meters away.
“Meow!”
Trumbo followed suit, and also managed to fire a giant golden palm, although before the cat enlarged itself, its palm technique was two sizes smaller than Dumbo’s.
“…”
Utterly shocked, Jiang He murmured in surprise, “Ucchusma Stonebreaker Palm?”
He remembered that palm technique very well.
After all, Killer Star had ambushed him with that technique back at Li Fei’s farm, leaving him half-dead when his strike landed. However, after Jiang He turned the tables against Killer Star and killed him, he sold the cultivation manual for the Ucchusma Stonebreaker Palm that he found on Killer Star’s corpse.
And now, the palm technique Dumbo and Trumbo used was that same Ucchusma Stonebreaker Palm. While less powerful than Killer Star, it was extremely horrific and would not be impossible to break stones.
Moreover, Killer Star was rank-eight, whereas Dumbo and Trumbo were only rank-six advanced at the moment—the gap in ability was simply enormous.
“What the heck!”
Dumbo exclaimed in surprise then and stared in disbelief at his canine paw, “I actually learnt martial arts now?”
“Meow!!!”
Trumbo shrieked several times as well.
Certainly.
No one would believe even if word spreads that there were Ferals that knew martial arts.
In the very least, of all the Ferals he had encountered so far, most of them attacked with their brute strength. Of course, there were also Ferals with superpowers, such as the Black King Drake that controlled water, but there really has not been any Feral that knew kung fu.
“Humans have legacies and the Old Martial Era, even an Era of Qi Refinist if we go further back in time… but what about Ferals?”
Jiang He suddenly had a weird idea.
Ferals…
Were monsters.
Do the monsters possess legacy?
There was a chance, but it would probably be rare, and there was no information about such a thing for now at least.
Looking at the excited Dumbo and Trumbo, Jiang He suddenly realized something.
His pets had awakened water-type powers when they ate the grave grass of the B-class water-type Awakened before. Now that they ate Killer Star’s grave grass, they’ve learnt Ucchusma Tomb-Breaker Palm…
Jiang He then turned towards a grave which had a tuft of grass growing over it.
“Is this grave… Brave Star’s?”
“No, wait. It might be Bound Star’s…”
Jiang He was not sure.
Who would remember this stuff anyway?
After all, he was only responsible for throwing the corpse. Dumbo and Trumbo were both in charge of digging their graves.
Still, it did not matter whose grave it was.
The important thing is that this tuft of grass was unlike the Sword Will Barrenwort, the latter of which could be ‘used’ by merely extending his spirit into it, obtaining its ability or cultivation method. In contrast, the grass would need to be consumed to take effect…
There was no way Jiang He would eat such a disgusting thing, though it would be alright to feed his pets with it.
He walked up and plucked it.
[Ding!]
[+1000 Farm Points]
A System Notification jingled in his head, and Jiang He promptly slapped himself in the forehead, saying, “I’m so stupid. I could check the stats since it’s a plant… can’t I tell what effect it has with just a look?”
Focusing his gaze, the data about the tuft of green grass showed up just as expected.
[Grave Grass]
[Attribute: A plant that grows over graves, possesses mysterious effects.]
“…”
What do you mean, grave grass?
What do you mean, mysterious effect? Would it kill you to put in one line to introduce the effect?
After complaining for a bit, Jiang He split the tuft of grass into two portions and handed them to Dumbo and Trumbo, saying, “Eat.”
Trumbo took the grass and munched until green juices were flowing down the corners of its mouth, mewing in delight.
On the other hand, Dumbo hesitated and asked hesitantly, “Master, I’m a dog…”
And dogs don’t eat grass.
Hehe.
Dumbo’s whole body shuddered at Jiang He’s mere chuckle, and it quickly said, “Master, I’ll eat it, I’ll eat it.”
It opened its mouth…
And first used its water-type powers to clean the grass, before breathing flames to bake it.
As the grass cooked, Dumbo even went to the storeroom to get oil, pepper, and salt…
Jiang He gaped, and could not help laughing, “You dog. You’ve kept asking me for condiments… it seems that you have hoarded a lot now.”
Trumbo froze where it was, immediately finding the grass in its mouth tasteless.
Meanwhile, Dumbo cheerfully put the baked grass inside its mouth, munch on it a few times before swallowing.
Ooom!
An earthen-yellow halation hence shot out from its body, and the same soon happened to Trumbo as well.
“Earth-type superpowers… it seems that this grave is Bound Star’s.”
Jiang He exhaled, looking rather pleased as he smiled. “That’s right, I’ve thought before that you two are too weak that you wouldn’t be able to watch the house. Now, it seems that there’s still hope for you yet.”
Jiang He was feeling rather positive.
If the cat and the dog continued to grow…
It would be too interesting if someone attempts to invade his house in the future.
Even if they could clear the two obstacles that were the Cloudscraper Vine and the willow tree, they would still have to face the kung-fu pets.
“Haha! I wonder what others would think if they saw my pets using Ucchusma Stonebreaker Palm, blade and sword techniques, or even awakening blade will and sword will?
Jiang He could not help laughing.
***
Meanwhile, deep within Mount Dadong.
The Graywolf King was lying sprawled on a mountaintop, while a figure stood facing him up on thin air under the night sky.
The figure was wearing black robes, and his body palpated a sinister coldness as he smiled. “Graywolf King, you oppose humans. Opening a heritage side alongside them… did you really think the Ferals serving you could gain anything by entering?”
The Graywolf King looked up at the black-robed figure.
It laughed coldly as it breathed human speech, “Human this, human that… are you perhaps not human?”
The black-robed figure laughed, black mist rising from his body as his eyes glimmered in pale light. He extended his hands that were rather deformed, saying, “I was once baptized at the Holy Lake and my body is now a body of the Holy Ones, not human.”
“Amusing!”
The Graywolf King guffawed, saying, “I can open a heritage site jointly with the Sky Demon Cult, but only ten persons are allowed inside… and you must wait until the next full moon.”
Its power was the strongest during full moons, and its power would not decrease by much even if it was weakened after the heritage site was opened.
In the end… it was worried about the Sky Demon Cult.
This bunch that was neither human nor demon had given up on being ‘human’ because of something vague and imaginary.
Who would know if that would blow up in their faces?
“Very well!”
The black-robed figure answered hoarsely, saying, “Full moon… the fifteenth of the ninth month in the lunar calendar, October fifteenth on the western calendar. I’ll come with my people when the time comes.”
Poof.
The black-robed figure turned into a puff of black smoke and disappeared from Mount Dadong.
Soon, the figure appeared at the entrance into Zhouchuan Village, approximately 70 km away from Lingzhou city.
He then stood outside the uninhabited village, waiting for half an hour.
Soon, a puzzled voice could be heard beneath the black robes, exclaiming, “What’s going on? Has the Sentinel of the Right not succeeded yet? What happened to meeting here, and he still hasn’t shown up?”
[1] Green (绿) is a metaphor often associated with cuckolds.
Although Jiang He felt that the corpses were completely useless before, he had realized their importance now. If he killed another one dozen elites who grasped sword will and planted more Sword Will Barrenwort, would his own grasp over sword will not be perfected?
[Ding!]
[+2000 Farm Points]
He walked up and plucked the Sword Will Barrenwort, before turning to look at the graves nearby.
A three-feet tall tree was growing beside the grave.
It was a strange plant: its branches and trunk were green but it had no leaves, with two cherry-sized fruits hanging atop its bald branches.
The fruit was, in fact, green too.
“Tut, tut!”
Jiang He couldn’t help laughing as he exclaimed, “What gods have the Sky Demon Cultists angered that all the plants growing their graves are green[1]?”
Even as he bantered, he pondered.
The graves had been buried for some time. Why did the grave grass suddenly grow out?
“Could it be because of the farm leveling up?” Jiang He felt that it was the only possibility—he had definitely felt a mysterious energy wafting in his farm in the instant that it leveled up. The willow tree he had planted shot up by two meters in no time at all, and it made sense that energy nurturing some of the grave grass.
Nonetheless, Jiang He became even more puzzled at that.
Why did it not catalyze into several living people?
He had planted Dumbo and Tumbo before, and both of them were Ferals—beings of flesh and blood. If they could be planted, why not human corpses?
Was his farm level too low?
Could there be some other conditions?
“A paper doll could be planted into a maid, so why not corpses?”
“Could I plant corpses when the farm levels up, reviving it?”
“Planting corpses now only gives me grave grasses, then… what is the rule? Surely I can’t wait until the farm levels up after I plant the corpses?”
Jiang He mused to himself for a long time when he heard a car’s honk from outside. Only then did he rub his temples and head out.
The Martial Arts Department (MAD) vehicle carrying the corpses had returned.
“Mister Jiang, where would you want the corpses?” Su Ze asked as he leapt off the vehicle.
The youth was now utterly respectful towards Jiang He, and was all smiles as he said, “Point me there, and I’ll help carry it over.”
“No need, just put them outside.”
“Very well!”
Su Ze hence unloaded the corpses.
Meanwhile, Jiang He saw that Liu Xue was remaining in the vehicle, and grinned, “Liu Xue, come over for a bit.”
“Huh?”
Despite being puzzled, Liu Xue jumped off the vehicle as well.
With a turn of his hand, Jiang He drew out a gigantic eel and handed it to her, saying, “Didn’t you keep asking for an eel? I managed to pick one up when I was at Jiangnan, though it’s a shame that it’s dead.”
Liu Xue: “…”
A look of shock flash upon her loli face.
Eel…
‘When did I ask for an eel? You were the one who said on your own that you would catch me an eel for me to play with, please!
‘All I wanted is a baby Feral…
‘That being said, this eel must be rank-four, or perhaps a rank-five?
‘Even a single corpse would be worth a lot of money, would it not?’
Receiving the corpse, Liu Xue smiled sweetly at Jiang He and said, “Thank you, Mister Jiang.”
With that, she leapt back on the vehicle.
Soon, the corpses were put on the ground. Jiang He then called out to the Seven Bottle Gourd Brothers who were watching Peppa Pig so intently that they were not affected at all by the explosions and the battle outside, saying, “Carry those corpses inside the farm… by the way, where’s Dumbo and Trumbo? Tell them to come help as well.”
The corpses were hence moved inside the farm.
As Jiang He tired himself out from instructing, Dumbo, Trumbo and the Seven Bottle Gourd Brothers also planted all the corpses and piled graves above them.
Rewarding each of the Seven Bottle Gourd Brothers with a Nitrogen Fertilizer, Jiang He barked, “Alright, it’s already ten. Staying up late is bad for your health, now get back inside the bottle gourds and sleep.”
With that, the Seven Bottle Gourd Brothers happily climbed back inside their bottle gourds with their ‘candies’.
Then, glancing at Dumbo and Trumbo who were wagging their tails to curry favor, Jiang He thought about it before walking up and plucking the small tree growing beside the grave.
[Ding!]
[+500 Farm Points]
Compared to the Sword Will Barrenwort, the grave grass earned Jiang He a lot less points.
Clearly, its value would be much lower than the Sword Will Barrenwort.
All at once, Jiang He lost interest.
Would I ever care for such rubbish?
Though fruits must be eaten… said fruit grew out of a grave, absorbing the essences of the corpse within. How could that not be disgusting?
Plucking two fruits, he rewarded Dumbo and Trumbo with one each.
Delighted, cat and dog stuffed the fruit down their mouths once they received it.
Crunch, crunch.
After several munching, they swallowed.
Oom!
In second, a curious surge of energy arose from Dumbo and Trumbo’s bodies, just as a golden light flashed over their body, eventually converging on their paws.
“Ha!”
Dumbo, standing on his rear legs, assumed a horse stance and breathed a soft cry, clenching one of its paws by its hip while abruptly extending the other.
Boom!
The air rumbled.
A giant golden palm shot out, fading only when it was eight meters away.
“Meow!”
Trumbo followed suit, and also managed to fire a giant golden palm, although before the cat enlarged itself, its palm technique was two sizes smaller than Dumbo’s.
“…”
Utterly shocked, Jiang He murmured in surprise, “Ucchusma Stonebreaker Palm?”
He remembered that palm technique very well.
After all, Killer Star had ambushed him with that technique back at Li Fei’s farm, leaving him half-dead when his strike landed. However, after Jiang He turned the tables against Killer Star and killed him, he sold the cultivation manual for the Ucchusma Stonebreaker Palm that he found on Killer Star’s corpse.
And now, the palm technique Dumbo and Trumbo used was that same Ucchusma Stonebreaker Palm. While less powerful than Killer Star, it was extremely horrific and would not be impossible to break stones.
Moreover, Killer Star was rank-eight, whereas Dumbo and Trumbo were only rank-six advanced at the moment—the gap in ability was simply enormous.
“What the heck!”
Dumbo exclaimed in surprise then and stared in disbelief at his canine paw, “I actually learnt martial arts now?”
“Meow!!!”
Trumbo shrieked several times as well.
Certainly.
No one would believe even if word spreads that there were Ferals that knew martial arts.
In the very least, of all the Ferals he had encountered so far, most of them attacked with their brute strength. Of course, there were also Ferals with superpowers, such as the Black King Drake that controlled water, but there really has not been any Feral that knew kung fu.
“Humans have legacies and the Old Martial Era, even an Era of Qi Refinist if we go further back in time… but what about Ferals?”
Jiang He suddenly had a weird idea.
Ferals…
Were monsters.
Do the monsters possess legacy?
There was a chance, but it would probably be rare, and there was no information about such a thing for now at least.
Looking at the excited Dumbo and Trumbo, Jiang He suddenly realized something.
His pets had awakened water-type powers when they ate the grave grass of the B-class water-type Awakened before. Now that they ate Killer Star’s grave grass, they’ve learnt Ucchusma Tomb-Breaker Palm…
Jiang He then turned towards a grave which had a tuft of grass growing over it.
“Is this grave… Brave Star’s?”
“No, wait. It might be Bound Star’s…”
Jiang He was not sure.
Who would remember this stuff anyway?
After all, he was only responsible for throwing the corpse. Dumbo and Trumbo were both in charge of digging their graves.
Still, it did not matter whose grave it was.
The important thing is that this tuft of grass was unlike the Sword Will Barrenwort, the latter of which could be ‘used’ by merely extending his spirit into it, obtaining its ability or cultivation method. In contrast, the grass would need to be consumed to take effect…
There was no way Jiang He would eat such a disgusting thing, though it would be alright to feed his pets with it.
He walked up and plucked it.
[Ding!]
[+1000 Farm Points]
A System Notification jingled in his head, and Jiang He promptly slapped himself in the forehead, saying, “I’m so stupid. I could check the stats since it’s a plant… can’t I tell what effect it has with just a look?”
Focusing his gaze, the data about the tuft of green grass showed up just as expected.
[Grave Grass]
[Attribute: A plant that grows over graves, possesses mysterious effects.]
“…”
What do you mean, grave grass?
What do you mean, mysterious effect? Would it kill you to put in one line to introduce the effect?
After complaining for a bit, Jiang He split the tuft of grass into two portions and handed them to Dumbo and Trumbo, saying, “Eat.”
Trumbo took the grass and munched until green juices were flowing down the corners of its mouth, mewing in delight.
On the other hand, Dumbo hesitated and asked hesitantly, “Master, I’m a dog…”
And dogs don’t eat grass.
Hehe.
Dumbo’s whole body shuddered at Jiang He’s mere chuckle, and it quickly said, “Master, I’ll eat it, I’ll eat it.”
It opened its mouth…
And first used its water-type powers to clean the grass, before breathing flames to bake it.
As the grass cooked, Dumbo even went to the storeroom to get oil, pepper, and salt…
Jiang He gaped, and could not help laughing, “You dog. You’ve kept asking me for condiments… it seems that you have hoarded a lot now.”
Trumbo froze where it was, immediately finding the grass in its mouth tasteless.
Meanwhile, Dumbo cheerfully put the baked grass inside its mouth, munch on it a few times before swallowing.
Ooom!
An earthen-yellow halation hence shot out from its body, and the same soon happened to Trumbo as well.
“Earth-type superpowers… it seems that this grave is Bound Star’s.”
Jiang He exhaled, looking rather pleased as he smiled. “That’s right, I’ve thought before that you two are too weak that you wouldn’t be able to watch the house. Now, it seems that there’s still hope for you yet.”
Jiang He was feeling rather positive.
If the cat and the dog continued to grow…
It would be too interesting if someone attempts to invade his house in the future.
Even if they could clear the two obstacles that were the Cloudscraper Vine and the willow tree, they would still have to face the kung-fu pets.
“Haha! I wonder what others would think if they saw my pets using Ucchusma Stonebreaker Palm, blade and sword techniques, or even awakening blade will and sword will?
Jiang He could not help laughing.
***
Meanwhile, deep within Mount Dadong.
The Graywolf King was lying sprawled on a mountaintop, while a figure stood facing him up on thin air under the night sky.
The figure was wearing black robes, and his body palpated a sinister coldness as he smiled. “Graywolf King, you oppose humans. Opening a heritage side alongside them… did you really think the Ferals serving you could gain anything by entering?”
The Graywolf King looked up at the black-robed figure.
It laughed coldly as it breathed human speech, “Human this, human that… are you perhaps not human?”
The black-robed figure laughed, black mist rising from his body as his eyes glimmered in pale light. He extended his hands that were rather deformed, saying, “I was once baptized at the Holy Lake and my body is now a body of the Holy Ones, not human.”
“Amusing!”
The Graywolf King guffawed, saying, “I can open a heritage site jointly with the Sky Demon Cult, but only ten persons are allowed inside… and you must wait until the next full moon.”
Its power was the strongest during full moons, and its power would not decrease by much even if it was weakened after the heritage site was opened.
In the end… it was worried about the Sky Demon Cult.
This bunch that was neither human nor demon had given up on being ‘human’ because of something vague and imaginary.
Who would know if that would blow up in their faces?
“Very well!”
The black-robed figure answered hoarsely, saying, “Full moon… the fifteenth of the ninth month in the lunar calendar, October fifteenth on the western calendar. I’ll come with my people when the time comes.”
Poof.
The black-robed figure turned into a puff of black smoke and disappeared from Mount Dadong.
Soon, the figure appeared at the entrance into Zhouchuan Village, approximately 70 km away from Lingzhou city.
He then stood outside the uninhabited village, waiting for half an hour.
Soon, a puzzled voice could be heard beneath the black robes, exclaiming, “What’s going on? Has the Sentinel of the Right not succeeded yet? What happened to meeting here, and he still hasn’t shown up?”
[1] Green (绿) is a metaphor often associated with cuckolds.
